"How did they come to get the churches which you had?" Mrs. Rizal was addressing Aglipay. She knew, but wanted his version of it. "We were fearing nothing," the leader of the schism explained, "when in one night, just before the American troops arrived on the scene, Spanish soldiers seized on the churches while we slept. The next day the American troops came, and as, it appears, they had been ordered to protect in possession of their properties whoever they might find in possession of them, they at once became allies of the friars." "And here I, who was with them," exclaimed Saguanaldo indignantly, "I, who had given them peaceable possession of Manila, was ordered to protect the friars in possession that they gained by trickery." "What did you do?" asked Mrs. Rizal. "Do? I passed the word to as many of my followers as possible, and fled. Not one of them came, though." "That seems to have been the best thing you could have done--for the friars," returned Mrs. Rizal. "In doing that you became rebellious against the United States, and now, I understand, have the American army on your trail." "That is true; but what else could I have done? Had I done nothing I would have been fighting for the Spaniards, and, as it were, against myself. I had the Americans against me, anyhow." "But now the case is hopeless. So long as the Spaniards were your enemies, without outside help, there was some hope that some day you might have beaten them. But, now that the Americans are allies of the Spaniards the case is hopeless. It is too great a nation for you to combat. Recall how the Spanish fleet melted away before the American fleet in the bay of Manila and tell me what chance you will have before the giant foe from across the seas." "I don't see why the Americans turned against us, when they came here to fight the Spaniards," said Aglipay gloomily. "The reason is very plain," returned the woman. "Was it that they were offended at me because I had been made president of the Filipino republic?" asked Saguanaldo. "No." "Are the American people, then, not lovers of liberty, and are they merely waging a war of conquest in the name of liberty?" Aglipay asked. "The answer is found in the fact that there is not a member of the Filipino Catholic church in all America, while there are ten million Roman Catholics there." "Ah, political reasons, then," suggested the bishop. He as an olden friar understood something of how politics modified policies. "Yes. Though your schism might have a greater power here than the friars have, it commands no influence in America. The American who favors the other side will have friends at home, while one who would favor you would find enemies there that might destroy his influence and his future. You are not only fighting the American army here, and the friars here, but also, as it were, all the people of America." The two men reflected moodily for a few minutes.